Planning a Family Vacation: A Chance to Get Together

Multi-generational travel is one of the largest-growing segments of travel.  According to the Travel Industry Association, at least three generations are traveling together. Every year, over 5 million three-generation families go on vacation together.  Unfortunately, this presents those planning the trip with a huge challenge.  How do you cater to everyone?

Thankfully, there are a number of ways you can create the perfect multigenerational vacation.  And, you’ll definitely be rewarded for your efforts. The benefits of family vacations range from spending quality time together to parents having a break from the kids.  So, use our travel tips to help with planning a family vacation.  Our top tips are below:

Make Sure Everyone’s Involved

First, make sure everyone is involved in the decision-making process.  They’ll feel more invested in the trip because they’ve had an input into the overall decisions.  Before you book anything, hold a family meeting to discuss ideas. You can set up an online chat so you can all throw ideas around.

Choose the Right Accommodation

Furthermore, vacation rentals are often a much more affordable option for large groups. They allow you to choose the right accommodation that caters to everyone’s needs while also getting the privacy you’ll be looking for from your trip.

The goal of a vacation together is to spend quality time.  However, it’s still important to make sure people can have some time out. For example, you might want to look at places with individual units instead of a large villa.  Furthermore, those who don’t want to party late or need to escape from crying babies can go to their unit.

Just as important, it’s also worth booking everyone into airport hotels like the BWI Airport Marriott. When you’ve got a large group of people traveling together, organizing everyone to be on time can be difficult. So opting for an overnight stay at the airport reduces any risks of people missing the flight.

Spend Time in Groups

It doesn’t matter where you’re heading, there are going to be groups of people who want to do different things.  When you’re planning your family vacation, remember some people will want to go off and do their own thing.  That’s great.

Discuss what activities everyone wants to take part in.  That way, you can arrange small groups who can go off and do separate things.  While this is occurring others can babysit or relax by the pool.

When planning a family vacation, mix and match your quality time.  Set up activities with different members of your family. For example, grandparents could head off to do some sightseeing during the day.  Mom and Dad can go out a night and leave the grandparents to babysit the kids.

Other things to consider include self-catered accommodations. With different meal schedules and preferences, it can be difficult to find restaurants that cater to everyone. Plus, eating in gives you the chance to relax as a family.  Most importantly, it also saves money.

Making sure everyone on vacation is happy isn’t hard.  When you’re planning a family vacation, remember it takes a little planning, consideration, and flexibility.  You and your family will be enjoying the trip of a lifetime!